"RonDodo" (September-December, 2015E.V.)  I started (d) composing in 1974.  I've done nothing but d teriorate since then (ka-boom!).  "RonDodo"'s the latest evidence of that.  I was probably daydreaming about the punning possibilities of the words "Rondo" (a simple musical form) & "Dodo" (a bird rendered extinct by humans several hundred years ago) & wondered about how to turn it into a score.  Lo & Behold!, "RonDodo" was born!  I drew an outline of a Dodo & made a connect-the-dots tracing of it that followed an extravagant RonDo form: A-B-A-C-A-D-A-E..A-Z-A & placed this over graph paper to provide a regularizing component.  I then established rules about how the players should proceed from there.  Unpromising as this may seem to some, a fairly interesting (d) composition was generated.  Since I'm fortunate enough to have friends who actually find these pieces of mine challenging & fun to play, I was also fortunate enough to work with the following crew to bring "RonDodo" to life: Matt Aelmore: French horn; Jason Belcher: valve trombone; David Bernabo: keyboards; Roger Dannenberg: trumpet; Calder Dudgeon: conductor; Kenny Haney: clarinet; Julian Krishnamurti: violin; Ben Opie: alto saxophone; Brian Riordan: percussion; & myself (yes, I'm even friends with me): tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: (d) composer, sampler, moviemaker.  This movie quasi-documents the piece's growth up 'til its premier performance as part of David Bernabo's "Lightlab 10" at the fabulous "The Space Upstairs" in Pittsburgh.  Such details as rehearsals are primarily intended for the edification of geek scholars.  Then again, if you're checking this whole business out in the 1st place you probably ARE a geek scholar in which case I greet you (albiet in this removed way) with thanks for your interest.  The final version presented here is also available on CD as part of my "1975-2015" collection of selected works of mine for 40 years.  Figuring out my email & writing to me is probably the best way to get a copy because I don't anticipate it's getting distributed otherwise. - tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE notes December 9, 2015  

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